Chapter 213: Time to hunt.

The beast valley was also peaceful like the land beyond the veil. In the afternoon, Malia who was expected to be lost in sadness was leading a group of people to make sugar from the sugar canes. They were doing it the traditional way, and the modern one, to see which quality was better.

Zyra was not participating in the activity, she was standing near Snowy’s corner, observing her white-furred ant which she thought would look like a deflated pancake after laying eggs. Instead, Snowy was already up on all fours, trotting around and looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

"Well, look who decided to glow up," Zyra murmured, scratching Snowy on the head, like she would a dog.

Snowy let out a soft, contented grunt. "I am not laying eggs again, this was a one time experience for me. If you want assassin ants, find yourself another sucker." The ant told her

Zyra nodded, "Understood ma’am."

The lair had been reshaped into a cozy, heavily fortified nursery to accommodate the new ant eggs. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

"Hey, Beauty," Zyra called out slowly, leaning away from the ant. "How long is this incubator phase gonna take? I am excited to meet the assassin ants. I have a hit list ready and everything. They have clans to annihilate."

[Usually about three months for the ants to fully hatch and mature so you will have to do the annihilating on your own if you are in hurry.] Beauty replied, her system voice ringing gently in Zyra’s mind.

"Three months? Great. Ninety days of worrying about egg-sitting," Zyra sighed, nodding anyway. Her worry was that Scotty might be tempted to eat an ant egg! In the new world, people ate almost everything, as long as it was not poisonous.

She took a quick walk through the rest of the beast dwellings. The total number of beasts had gone up lately because of the fresh batch of people that had flooded into the shelter. But the beast count hadn’t exploded as much as one might think. Half of the newcomers were low-born commoners with no half-life beasts.

In this world, if you didn’t have deep pockets, buying even a low-tier beast egg was about as realistic as flapping your arms and flying to the moon. If you didn’t belong to a clan, your chances of using a resonance pool to hatch a beast were even lower.

After her rounds, Zyra headed down the metallic hallway toward the security room.

The heavy doors slid open, revealing Hunter standing like a statue in front of a wall of glowing surveillance monitors. His eyes were glued to the screens. Zyra walked up beside him, glanced at the display, and instantly sucked in a sharp breath.

"Holy molly!"

Outside, past the valley’s defensive perimeter, the flooded territory was swarming. These weren’t just the usual low-level water beasts that floated by like angry logs. These were giant, high-ranking sea beasts that had spent decades_ maybe centuries_ undisturbed in the dark depths, they were practically overflowing with raw, unrefined energy and probably high energy stones. Maybe even resonance stones.

"Are you thinking what I’m thinking?" Hunter asked, not taking his eyes off the main screen.

Zyra blinked, staring at the horror show on display. "Depends. Are you thinking about what trouble these creatures are going to be for us? Because that is what I am thinking."

"Look at that one," Hunter said, pointing a thick finger at a monstrosity floating near the submerged eastern ridge. It was a giant squid, but instead of normal suction cups, each of its dozens of thrashing tentacles ended in a tiny, snapping, serrated jaw.

"Charming," Zyra muttered. "It has mouth-tentacles."

"There’s a very high chance those things are carrying concentrated resonance stones in their cores, and it looks delicious if roasted." Hunter said, a dark gleam in his eye.

Before Zyra could even process that, a crisp notification chimed inside her head.

[Ding! Hunter Magnus is correct. These beasts contain highly concentrated resonance stones. They will be extremely useful for your beasts.] Beauty confirmed.

Zyra opened her mouth to speak, but Beauty interrupted her with another loud prompt.

[Ding! New Mission Triggered: Fill this jar with resonance stones and claim a reward from the system!]

A heavy glass jar suddenly appeared at the corner of the screen. It was roughly the size of a large pickle jar and the prompt made it clear: it needed to be packed to the brim.

Zyra looked at the jar, then looked at the screen full of tentacled nightmares, and finally locked eyes with Hunter.

"What the hell are we waiting for?" she demanded. "Let’s go turn those oversized seafood platters into shiny rocks!"

Hunter tilted his head, looking at her in complete disbelief. "Wait. You’re ready to go? Right now? Outside?"

He fully expected her to whine about the roaring thunder, the earth quakes, and the six-foot-deep floodwater turning the landscape into a swampy hellscape.

"Uh, yeah," Zyra said, counting how many stones it would take to fill the jar. If she had to guess, at least 100. "I said we are going. I’m coming with you."

Hunter winced. His instinct screamed at him to ask her to sit this one out. The storm outside was ferocious, and those beasts weren’t pushovers. But as he looked at her stubborn expression, he caught himself. I can’t keep babying her forever, he thought. If she doesn’t bleed a little now, she’ll die a lot later. Fine. Consider this an extreme field trip.

"Alright," Hunter grunted, snapping into commander mode. "I’ll go assemble the most outstanding men from the valley. Gear up. It’s going to be messy."

"Got it," Zyra said. As Hunter stepped away to radio his squad, Zyra paused, her mood shifting slightly. She tapped her chin. "Oh, Beauty? Do me a favor. Block all incoming video feeds and news reports about Malia’s family unless its the whereabouts of the her nieces and nephews."

Zyra had seen Malia doing her job, bossing everyone around, On the outside, Malia acted fine, pretending the world wasn’t falling apart. But Zyra knew better. Losing your family, or watching them get dragged through the dirt, broke people in ways you couldn’t patch up with a nice meal.

[Vengeance is one of the strongest motivators for a human,] Beauty observed softly in her mind. [I believe Malia is using that hatred to build her strength. 60% of the sugar you use comes from the Mystic sanctum. It looks to me like she is planning to cut off financial stream for them.]

Zyra let out a quiet sigh, watching two beasts fight it out.

"Yeah," Zyra whispered. "At least she has a goal to wake up for. Hate is a terrible thing, but sometimes, it’s the only thing that keeps you breathing."

She shook her head, clearing the heavy thoughts, and gripped her spear tight.

"Alright, giant squid," she muttered, marching toward the exit. "Let’s see if you taste better than you look."